I have been praying for a long time on what I should make my first blog about and I have finally listened to God’s answer.
Let me start by telling you a little bit about how I came to this decision.
I have known for at least 5 years that I wanted to do some type of missionary work and after trying and failing, I felt defeated and decided I had miss understood what God was calling me to do.
Then one day while on Instagram, I was looking at pictures of a girl I went to college with and a summer mission trip she was on. As I explored Adventures in Missions I found the World Race. That is when I felt God smack me across the back of the head (because at times that is the only way to get my attention) and say “THAT IS IT!”. Of course being human I told God “not right now I just got this descent job and I really should go to grad school before I do missionary work, so maybe in a few years”. Well after that God made my time at work stressful and I started having panic attacks all the time. So again being human I think “I will get a new job”. Well again this job is still stressing me out and making me anxious. That is when God says “remember that mission trip that I skillfully place in your mind every time you are upset with your job…GO APPLY FOR IT!” So at this point I decide I will finally follow God and see what happens.
So that brings me to the question I always receive, “Why the World Race?” This is not a super simple question. I could talk about why I feel it makes perfect sense for me for hours but I will summarize it into 4 points.
- God is calling me! I mean this is probably the simplest answer but in all honesty it could also be the most important. I have felt a calling from God for about 5 years to do missionary work, and you can only ignore his calls for so long. After God worked on my heart for many years, I finally realized that I care more about what God thinks of me than the world. I decided that even if I have a decent job and a decent life planned out for me, it is not God’s plan and his plan will have an even better ending than mine.
- I love helping people. I have always loved helping people that need it no matter how big or small it is. The last two years I have worked in therapeutic positions with kids. I have loved talking to the kids and helping them with their personal situations. These experiences of working with kids has taught me a lot about myself and has also brought down the curtain about how the other half truly lives. Most of my life I can remember my mom telling me to be a nurse because I was nice and caring to those in need. So when I saw 11 countries in 11 months I started to do math (sorry I got my mother’s math brain) about how many people that means I will meet, and how many stories I get to hear…that is when I knew this was for me.
- I have wanderlust to see this beautiful world that God created for us. Ever since I was little I can remember I always wanted to see the world. I wanted to meet the people and learn their cultures. I love seeing in person the places and cultures I have read about/seen in books. The thought of seeing 11 countries in 11 months is probably the most exciting part about the World Race for me. I am excited to experience 11 different cultures and to see the beauty of each country.
- I love what the World Race stands for. They pull people out of their comfort zones and give them exposure to what God is doing in the world before they settle down. This is not only about people spreading the word of God to all the corners of the Earth but also about those people growing in their relationship with God.
I believe that God does not call his followers to be quiet about his love for us and that we are supposed to share it with everyone, at all corners of the earth. This is why I know that as I go forward with my preparation with this trip that as long as I put God first, then he will get me through to not my goal but his Goal.
